Far-Away Planet

There’s this
     far-away planet
     which I visited
           once

The people who lived
     there

Spoke
     a different language

And in the years
     I spent
           living there

I learned that they had
     no word for
           “enlightenment”

The closest translation
     into their language
     meant
     “The day he began to smile”

“Love” meant nothing
     to them,
     but the phrase
     “The one who feeds you”
     seemed almost Holy

“God”
     translated to
   “A room without walls”

And “War”
     left them
     entirely stumped


-Jim DuBois
circa 2000

From "Sometimes". Get a copy here.